By Randy Whalen
Correspondent
This season, there was no roll-off heartbreak for Richards.
Instead, there was the Bulldogs’ first sectional championship in 32 seasons.
A year after having their season end at the same stage of the state series, the Bulldogs rode a hot start to the Stagg Sectional title on Feb. 10 at Palos Lanes. They were paced by sophomore Ulyssa Garcia, who rolled a 1318.
The sectional championship is the Bulldogs’ sixth, including a District title in 1977, but the first since they won back-to-back years in 1991 and 1992.
Richards fell short last season when it lost to Stagg in a rolloff at the Oswego East Sectional for the right to go to state.
“That roll-off last year was so crazy that my adrenaline was off the rails,” Garcia said. “I did think about it ever since then and I’ve been waiting for this since last season. So to win the sectional, with no roll-off this year, just feels amazing.”
This season, Richards and Stagg both get to go. Richards rolled a 5884 total to edge three-time defending state champion Lockport (5857) by 27 pins. Andrew (5630) and Stagg (5408) also advanced to the state tournament, to be held Friday and Saturday, February 16 and 17, at The Cherry Bowl in Rockford.
Plainfield East (5171), TF South (5154), Evergreen Park (5115), Plainfield North (5026), Morgan Park (4879), Thornridge (4649), Bremen (4554) and Chicago Christian (4358) rounded out the sectional field.
It’s the 11th state appearance for Richards as a team but the first since 2019.
Garcia had a high with 257 in the fifth game. Her total was third individually behind Andrew senior Jana Mihalovich (1322) and Lockport freshman Alyvia Matiasek, who won with 1369.
Richards also featured Senior Mia Montes (6th, 1206, high 234), sophomore Katie Barr (10th, 1174, high 236), junior Kylie Schaefer (18th, 1138, high 228) and junior Natalie Stahulak (38th, 1048, high 230).
The Bulldogs had the high game of the day, 1172.
Stagg advanced to state for the third straight season.
“We’re extremely happy,” Chargers coach Rich Kowalczyk said. “This was our goal and we hosted the sectional at our own place. We have all seniors in our starting lineup and the girls lived up to their goal of getting back to state.”
The Stagg senior lineup was made up of Holly Gubernat (4th, 1245, high 226), Arianna Araujo (12th, 1165, high 239), Lina Abuhanoun (22nd, 1111, high 213), Gabriella Skop (57th, 960, high 190), and Leena Ashour (65th, 927, high 190).
Morton Advances
Morton advanced to state out of the Glenbard East Sectional, which was held at Bowlero in Glendale Heights. It’s the second state appearance in three years and the fourth since 2012 for the Mustangs.
Morton finished with 5283 pins.
Junior Ashley Baeza led the Mustangs with a 1224, including a high of 258. Sophomore Dolores Skenandore (1079, high 223), freshman Summerlynn Robinson (1049, high 193) and senior Nayeli Gutierrez (1018, high 197) bowled every game.
Freshman Xitlaly Acosta (486, high 184) bowled the final three games, sophomore Lizabeth Sanchez (297, high 158), junior Jazilyn Tobias (130) polished off the scoring.